This invention relates to personnel neutron radiation dosimetry.
The problem of personnel neutron dosimetry is complex, and no presently available single dosimeter is sensitive uniformly to the many orders of magnitude of neutron energy to which personnel may be subjected. The only existing approach to this problem is to use two dosimeters which have their respective sensitivities in separate parts of the neutron spectrum. As a specific example, it is known to use a dosimeter such as the polycarbonate "track-etch" dosimeter which is sensitive to the range which is greater than 1 MeV, together with an albedo type dosimeter which is most sensitive in the very low energy range of neutrons. In the former, damage sites or tracks are produced from fission or nonfission reactions occurring adjacent to or within a polycarbonate foil and are etched by using a caustic solution. A method of developing the damage sites or tracks according to the electrochemical process of Tommasino Italian Pat. No. 929,339 is useful. When data from both dosimeters are analyzed an estimate of the spectrum shape can be made, and as a result an estimate of the exposure can be derived.